Marcial Fire in New Mexico

Just to the south of the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge along the Rio Grande in southwestern New Mexico, a large fire was billowing out a thick plume of smoke when the MODIS on NASA’s Aqua satellite passed overhead on May 4, 2006. According to a local news report, the fire is burning in salt cedar along the banks of the river, and fire fighters were conducting “burn out” operations (carefully burning vegetation in the fire’s path to starve it of fuel) to prevent the spread of the fire northward into the refuge.
Credit: Jeff Schmaltz